STEEL TRUSSED-TUBE SYSTEM IN HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS

The role of steel members, which in the early structures were designed to carry gravity loads only, has now
been completely upgraded to take account of wind and seismic resistance using variety of structural systems.
Different structural systems currently used in the design of steel high-rise buildings are Rigid frame system,
Frame-shear truss system, Belt truss system, Frame tube system, Trussed-tube with interior columns
system, Bundled tube system, Trussed-tube without interior columns system.

Different structural systems of steel high-rise buildings

A trussed-tube system represents a classic solution for improving the efficiency of the framed tube by
increasing its potential for use to even greater heights as well as allowing greater spacing between the
columns; this is achieved by adding diagonal bracing to the face of the tube.
The diagonal bracing serve multiple functions, acting as inclined columns to resist some of the gravity load
and distribute them along the exterior columns on each side of the building, absorbing most of the wind
shear, and stiffening the tube so that it mimics the behavior of a solid tube. Another advantage of this tube is
that the interior is free from resisting wind action, so the design of most members is controlled by the gravity
forces rather than the wind forces.

This system was first introduced in John Hancock Center in Chicago, a 100 storey building. In that center, the
column spacing on the broad face is 12.2m and on the short face is 7.62m.
Some of the applications of the trussed-tube system used in steel high-rise building have been shown below:

Trussed-tube computer model John Hancock Center, Chicago, USA Onterie Center, Chicago, USA Bank of China, Hong Kong, China
in ETABS

By Mr. KY Visoth Sambath